Bush Talk Pays Off for His Haircutter

With his wife and daughter by his side, former President George Bush gave the keynote address Wednesday at an unusual fund-raiser.

The occasion might have looked like a reunion for the administration of the man Washington cognoscenti call Bush 41 (to distinguish him from the administration of the current and 43rd president).

But this was a Washington tribute to a hairdresser, Zahira Zahir, who has cut Republican hair for several administrations, and her cause -- education for women in Afghanistan.

A native of Kabul, Zahir wanted to rebuild her alma mater, Zarhona High School. She talked about the project to her clients at her salon at the Watergate Hotel -- a virtual who’s who of the Washington political establishment. Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, knew something about raising money. They would do lunch.

So Wednesday, they did. White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. made an appearance, as did Commerce Secretary Don Evans. Marc Pachter, curator of the National Portrait Gallery, was there, as was the wife of Afghanistan’s ambassador to Washington. Doctors, architects, consultants, lobbyists -- all were asked to contribute as much as they could to the cause of rebuilding Afghanistan’s schools for girls.

As Bush explained Wednesday, many supporters showed up “not only because Zahira -- hair stylist to the politically powerfully -- knows too many secrets, but also because she has strong opinions, which she gives you when she’s got you under the scissors.”

Zahir glowed in the affection and attention, but remained clear about her objectives. She became a U.S. citizen after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1978.

“I owe my existence to two countries,” she told the crowd. “I was born in Afghanistan to a very loving family, and after I lost Afghanistan to communism, America adopted me. She gave me shelter and a chance to live and worship without fear. One of the reasons I’m trying to rebuild these schools is to show that Americans are not destructive. We are constructive, and compassionate.”

Comparing the U.S. response to Afghanistan to the Marshall Plan that helped rebuild Europe after World War II, Zahir, with a nod to the current U.S. rift with Germany and France, added, “Unfortunately, a lot of those nations have forgotten, but I will make sure as long as I live that Afghanistan does not forget.”

For his part, Bush likened Zahir’s cause to the compassionate conservatism that his son has trumpeted, recalling his own administration’s Points of Light approach to volunteerism.

“If we don’t do it, if the people of the United States don’t do it, who will?” he asked. “Without the generosity of all of you here, who would help women of Afghanistan?”

Saying he had survived his own identity crisis, switching from power to “perhaps, given the problems of our country, the proudest father in the United States of America,” Bush shied from pronouncements on policy.

But he did allow himself one broad-brush rebuttal to the president’s critics. “I believe America is not going to heed voices of isolationism that want us to pull back from our global responsibilities, that want us to say, in essence, ‘We’ve done our part and now it’s time for somebody else,’ ” he said.

Without mentioning Saddam Hussein by name, he called the Iraqi president -- who once tried to assassinate him -- a “ruthless dictator that has wrought havoc with his own people and seeks now, in clear and direct violation of international law, to acquire more deadly weapons of mass destruction.”

Bush also took a hit at the Watergate Hotel chef for putting broccoli, famously his least-favorite vegetable, on the luncheon menu. “I haven’t changed my view of those dreadful florets and I don’t plan to,” he said.

In an interview before lunch, Zahir critiqued the hair of the presidents she has cut. Reagan had “a beautiful head of hair, and was the first president courageous enough to let a woman hairdresser touch his hair.” Former President Bush had a tendency to get bad haircuts while in Texas. As for the current President Bush, “I think the world has given him some more gray hair.”

When asked about reports that some customers had abandoned her salon after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because she is an Afghan American, Zahir recounted that some two dozen had left, but friends had made up the loss in income by having their hair cut more often, and referring others to the shop. Still, she was eager to get the former customers back.

“In business,” she said, “you want every customer.”

Ever the entrepreneur, Zahir said the cause of rebuilding her high school has so far raised $200,000 of the $300,000 needed. And she promises to rebuild all of the girls’ schools, if enough people lend their support to the campaign, which is showcased at www.zahiraschools.org.